New build for Photoshop CS6 and Lightroom 4

bmac82

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Aug 13, 2012
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Approximate Purchase Date: 1-2 months
Budget Range: $1000-1500 not including monitor
System Usage from Most to Least Important: Photoshop CS6, Lightroom 4, light internet usage
Are you buying a monitor: Yes (maybe dual)

Do you need to buy OS: Yes

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Would prefer everything from one place but if it's a lot cheaper I'll shop around.

Location: Des Moines, IA USA
Parts Preferences: none other than Intel CPU

Overclocking: Maybe but probably not necessary

SLI or Crossfire: No
Your Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080 or 1920x1200 with new monitor
Additional Comments: First timer looking into building a desktop to support my wife's home-based photography business. Would like something that is cutting edge so it's not obsolete in no time (probably going to happen anyway) and also leave some room for upgrading in the future.
Would like 16 GB of RAM with option to upgrade in the future. Would prefer nVidia GPU.
 

DeusAres

Distinguished
Try this...

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($324.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($149.98 @ NCIX US)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LP 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($93.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 1.5TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($128.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Crucial M4 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($189.99 @ Microcenter)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 670 2GB Video Card ($407.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Antec Eleven Hundred ATX Full Tower Case ($89.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Corsair 750W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($104.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NS90 DVD/CD Writer ($17.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1543.89
(Prices include shipping and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-08-13 20:12 EDT-0400)

If you go with the case I suggested, you'll want to grab another 2-7 120mm case fans for optimal airflow. For some reason, the Antec 1100 only comes with 2 exhaust fans. There's up to 7 more extra mounting points for 120mm sized fans.

If you have anymore questions, feel free to ask.

[Edit]
Oops, it seems I made an error. Drop that 256gb SSD to a 128gb. This way you'll stay under budget.
 

bmac82

Honorable
Aug 13, 2012
2
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10,510
Thanks for the reply.

Any reason to go with a better mobo? I saw where someone with a similar build went to a Sabertooth. Is that a real overkill?

What (if anything) would you recommend for a scratch disk?

I was originally looking at the EVGA GeForce GTX 560 Ti 1 GB. Is the 670 going to be worth the extra?

What would you recommend for a BluRay burner?
 

aqualipt

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Jun 15, 2012
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Hey i sent you a few thing via PM, be sure to check it -----> http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/forum1.php?config=tomshardwareus.inc&cat=prive&page=1

Here is what i recommend you to buy:

CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($324.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Zalman CNPS12X Ball Bearing CPU Cooler ($76.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($134.99 @ Microcenter)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($88.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($82.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Samsung 830 Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($199.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon HD 7950 3GB Video Card ($329.99 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT Whisper ATX Full Tower Case ($139.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 850W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($119.00 @ Newegg)
Total: $1497.91



The 7950 is much much powerful than the GTX 670/680 in rendering task so if you work with OpenCL or OpenGL the unlocked double precision floating point in the 7950 will help you A LOT because normally only professional cards have that unlocked.

I picked a 850w PSU because you might want to add a second 7950 for gaming (a single 7950 is enough but i found that PSU for a really good price)

I included an excellent CPU cooler because the kind of applications your are going to use will benefit from having a high CPU core clock.

The Case is really good looking and extremely quiet so you can work in peace.

Make sure to check your private messages in top right column or by clicking the link above
 

aqualipt

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Jun 15, 2012
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That PC is more gaming oriented.
 

DeusAres

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No need for a "better" mobo. Mobos such as the sabertooth are given cool names along with a premium price difference. It's merely a marketing technique. There's really no benefit. I'd even suggest getting the Asrock z77 extreme4 and save even more money.

With your amount of RAM, you shouldn't need a scratch disk. If you absolutely need one, just get a cheap seagate drive. Use the WD and SSD for your main storage.

The gtx 670 offers more cuda cores which in turn gives you better performance in Adobe programs. The gtx 660ti is actually supposed to be released on the 16th of this month. It may be in your best interest to wait it out and get the 660ti instead. It would be perfect for what you need. The 560ti is just outdated. That's why I couldn't bring myself to recommending it, lol.

Blu Ray burner recommendation:
ASUS BW-12B1ST Blu-Ray Writer
http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=62678&vpn=BW-12B1ST%2FBLK%2FG%2FAS&manufacture=ASUS
 

aqualipt

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Jun 15, 2012
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*Motherboard simply hold and connect your components, some has a few nice features but most of them are the same, they don't give you any kind of performance boost or anything.

*The GTX 560ti is kinda of old now and its not longer a good bang for the buck, the 7850 will perform faster in games and in rendering tasks thanks to the unlocked double precision floating point processing that's is normally unlocked in professional cards only

*I don't know about the BD play... do you have BD movies you might want to watch in your PC?? if so, buy it
 

DeusAres

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No, it's not. Adobe applications are optimized for cuda cores. This is something only nvidia GPUs offer. Also, 16gb of RAM isn't gaming oriented nor is a 3770k CPU. Your logic is skewed.
 

aqualipt

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Jun 15, 2012
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no no no no... do not say that again in your life, you're spreading wrong information, the GTX670/680 might have more CUDA cores but that DOES NOT mean that they are going to perform better in professional taks, a GTX 580 outperforms a GTX 680 BY A LOT!!! in professional apps and a 7950/7970 outperforms the GTX 680 by a 400% margin.

the reason this happens is because those CUDA cores are optimized for gaming only and Nvidia removed the Double precission floating point processing is this cards to cut costs.
 

aqualipt

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Jun 15, 2012
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you are only fooling yourself, you edited your post to change the RAM, you originally included only 8GB

and read my other post, i explained why the GTX670/680 suck in everything other than gaming.
 

DeusAres

Distinguished


No, I didn't originally include 8gb. Otherwise, that would've been quoted in your reply. I edited my post for a misspelling. Your accusations are amusing, really. Where is the documentation concerning the GPUs to uphold your claims? I'd like to know for sure myself.
 

aqualipt

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Jun 15, 2012
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orly.jpg


So you want some prof ??

here you go kid!

gpgpu-cuda-grafico.jpg


gpgpu-directcompute-tabla.jpg


45164.png




Tom's Hardware - Benchmark 17 - GPU Caps Viewer Particles 1M <---- as you can see the GTX 680 beats the 7950 in games, but not in GPGPU computing which is what the OP wants
 

aqualipt

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Jun 15, 2012
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what do you mean by "those benchmarks mean nothing"??? they measure the GPGPU capacity of those GPUs :??:
 

aqualipt

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Jun 15, 2012
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this is a quote from pcmag

Compute Performance
Compute, or using the GPU to perform calculations that would traditionally be done by CPUs, isn't something a lot of people think about, but it's been a serious part of the reality of the video card market for a few years now. And given the overall power that video cards wield these days, we can see why. In our tests, the 7970, well, trounced its competitor in this department: On the 64-bit LuxMark 2.0 benchmark, the 7970 scored 1,591 on the Medium test and 987 on the Complex test—compared with the GTX 680's 622 and 281 respectively. In the SiSoftware Sandra GP Processor test using OpenCL, the 7970 managed a rate of 2.2 gigapixels per second to Nvidia's 756.4 megapixels per second; in Sandra's GP Cryptography test, the 7970 managed a rate of 26.6GBps compared with the GTX 680's 7GBps. Nvidia's stumbling in this area is partially understandable, as it removed some of the GPU's compute capabilities to make the cards using it more efficient. And chances are that compute won't be at the top of your list of reasons to buy most any card. But if general-purpose computing matters to you, the choice is clear this time around.
Advantage: AMD